A Certain Ratio took to slap bass like Petrarch did to the sonnet. At the dawn of the 1980s, while many white UK artists emulated the endorphin rush of disco, the Manchester combo sounded more […]
Latest Posts
3D & the Holograms: 3D & the Holograms
Listening to Australian punk band 3D & the Holograms is like thumbing through a comic book killing spree. The carnage is splashy and colorful, an addictive thrill that keeps you turning the page. The Sydney miscreants […]
Tennessee’s Restrictive New Drag Law Isn’t Even in Effect Yet. It’s Already Elicited a Lawsuit
Tennessee’s restrictive new drag law goes into effect on Saturday, April 1, and there’s already a lawsuit in response. The Memphis-based nonprofit theater group Friends of George’s is suing the state of Tennessee, alleging violations […]
Court Reinstates Murder Conviction of Adnan Syed of ‘Serial’ — For Now
Adnan Syed’s journey through the court system is getting a final act. It’s on a technicality, but one that is of great importance to the family of murder victim Hae Min Lee. On Tuesday, the […]
How Three TikTokers Used God to Find Surrealism
“Three gallons, three seconds.” The cold open of one of @Tik_tok_bhadie’s best videos sticks in your head: A guy eagerly taking the lid off one of three gallons of milk is interrupted by a knock […]
Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Mélusine is Imaginative and Thrilling
Mélusine, the figure from 14th century French mythology, was a half-woman/half-snake who, when her serpentine self was spied on by her betraying lover, turned into a dragon and took flight. Mélusine, Cécile McLorin Salvant’s new […]
Blast Rites: Liturgy’s Breathtaking Avant-Garde Maximalism and More of March’s Best Metal
Metal remains an insular and sometimes elitist genre, so it’s always welcome when a well-known figure from outside the scene tips their hat to the heavy stuff. Last week, R&B hit-maker T-Pain blessed us with […]
Twitter’s Secret VIP List Is Getting Preferential Treatment: Report
Twitter claimed that it will begin nixing its blue legacy verified checkmarks next month, starting on April Fools’ Day, and charging those who wish to keep their once-free blue checkmarks $8 a month. The move is […]
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily: Love in Exile
Since 2015, Arooj Aftab has gradually distilled the essence of her work. On her debut album, Bird Under Water, the Pakistan-born, Brooklyn-based composer fused ghazal—a South Asian style focused on loss and love, both romantic and divine—with […]
Navy Blue: Ways of Knowing
Family runs deep in the life and music of Sage Elsesser. In the eight years since he first began sharing songs on SoundCloud as Navy Blue, his relatives have maintained a constant presence: glimmers of light […]
Caroline Rose: The Art of Forgetting
Caroline Rose has a penchant for reinvention. They turned from their Americana origins to nervy indie pop on 2018’s LONER, then slipped into hyper-stylized digital pop on 2020’s Superstar. Released just days before COVID-19 sent America into […]
‘It Could Happen at Any School’: Remembering Nashville Students, Faculty Killed in Covenant Shooting
On Monday, the Nashville community was left shocked and grieving after the Metro Nashville Police Department confirmed the identities of six victims killed in a mass shooting at The Covenant School in the Green Hills […]